The Shadows of Memories
by PrincessofPanties
Summary: (An AU set place after the bad ending of Persona 4) Minato awakens one day in the cold, now abandoned streets of Iwatodai containing no memories of his life prior to becoming the great seal. There he runs into a girl named Minako, who seems to know everything about him and his memories. Together the two search for a way to defeat the shadows, with the help of some old friends.


**AN: The summary was pretty bad due to the character limit. Just to clarify when I say 'The Bad Ending' of Persona 4 I don't mean the accomplice ending, I mean an ending where they never find out the truth and fall victim to the shadows.**

A thick, miasmic fog rolled along the streets of the empty, barren city. It coated every corner, greedily grabbing at every open space available to it. It would have been pitch black, had it not been for the brightness of the full moon resting within the sky. Yet, the glow it was providing was sickly green in color, a type of green to set forth a sense of unease; dread. All the lights were out, obsolete at this point; the power had been out for a month or so. How long had it been anyways? It was hard to keep track anymore. Such concepts like time were cast aside, deemed unnecessary within this new world. It was hard to take note of such things, after all, when everyday was a battle for survival. A dance against death, perhaps. That's what the world had become after all.

Death.

Death wasn't pretty, though many wouldn't claim it to be in the first place. It wasn't painful, at times, but it was, in a sense, suffocating. A thick fog chocking you, covering all your senses until, eventually, it would all go to black. That was how death worked in this world.

And death had claimed many people already, so many in fact that scarcely a few remained. Such a calamity is often referred to as an apocalypse, a tragedy that results in the eradication of most life.

This could be called the apocalypse of shadows.

Shadows were the only living things to roam the city anymore, asides from the few survivors who did their best to keep from their sights. Shadows were, more or less, the enemies of mankind. They were their darkest thoughts, deepest fears, in a tangible form. They would consume their host, more or less overwhelming them with their desire to be accepted. Yet, most people are unable to face the music and ignore their shadows. This causes shadows to become berserk, eventually destroying their host. Such events could only occur within the 'shadow world' at first; the world existing on a different plane than that of Earth. However, what if the two worlds were to merge?

This was the answer.

The shadows had overwhelmed their victims, destroying everything until nothing remained and now those very people, once having a life to live and a sound mind, are now nothing more than mere shadows themselves, roaming about mindlessly in hopes of finding prey.

The only survivors are the ones who were able to face such shadows. Within them was the power to wield a 'persona', the physical entity of one's psyche; their resolves and passions. A persona is the same as a shadow, yet it is tamed, accepted. The user has learned to coexist with their flaws and grow as a person from them. This is why they cannot be consumed by shadows as a normal human would; however, there were limits to a persona's strength.

They couldn't last in battle forever.

And with the endless swarm of shadows skirting across the vast, empty streets there were no other viable option for these survivors but to flee; to flee and hide.

It wasn't possible for them to defeat all those shadows; they were outmatched in every possible sense. What more could they do but hide and wait? What more but cling onto a small, fragile thread of hope?  
They had fought hard to protect this Earth, had made sacrifices that had broke their hearts.

Was this all it was for?

Was the prevention of such a destruction inevitable after all?

All they did was for nothing.

Sitting within a dark empty building, with an atmosphere so silent and somber that it was almost tangible, the group of survivors waited. They waited for their eventual fate to become of them.

It would take a miracle for things to turn around.

It seemed, in their case, a miracle wasn't something impossible.

Meanwhile, in front of a gargantuan set of doors, shining with an almost holy, golden light, a change occurred. Slowly, the incandescent glow began to dim, until the light turned to a stone grey. A faint rumbling occurred, similar to an earthquake. A young woman dressed in deep blue watched such an event, her bright, yellow eyes wide with a bewildered wonder.

"How curious..." She muttered under her breath, refusing to budge even as the quake picked up in intensity. "How curious indeed, after what had occurred in his world I had wondered if something might happen here..."

She continued to watch the scene unfold, laminating to herself before she mused aloud. "But, what does this mean? The seal is breaking, but what exactly is to become of HIM?"

Suddenly, the quakes stopped, and a figure appeared before her sights. A young man bound against the doors; forever stuck as a seal to prevent Nyx from ever gaining power. His whole body was stone, a dull, lifeless, cement gray. He had sacrificed himself long ago for the sake of humanity; yet such a sacrifice was fruitless now as humanity had met an unfortunate fate.

The great seal was, in simple terms, obsolete.

So now, it appeared that it was falling apart. That in itself wasn't such a concern to the woman, but what did bother her was the fate of the man crucified to the door. She awaited, tense, ready to react if anything were to happen.

Yet, nothing did, at least for awhile, enough of awhile to allow her to relax.

"So is he to remain that way...?" She asked herself, sounding disappointed. "Surely he is the world's only hope, I had thought this was a sign that he might need to return to his world again..."

She stood still, not wanting to move away on the off chance that something might happen, but as time passed she had to bitterly admit to herself that maybe she had been wrong.

That was, until, she noticed the color returning to the young man. Slowly but surely, he was indeed reverting back from stone to human. The woman nearly gasped at the sight, but couldn't stare too long as the chains holding him up suddenly popped open with a 'snap', causing gravity to claim him.

Fortunately, the woman was on him as quick as the bat of an eye and she had him in her arms, gazing at him with a satisfied expression.

"There we go!" She practically sang, taking a complete 180 with her mood. "I was right after all, it seems you'll be going through yet again another journey! I quite look forward to the feats you'll accomplish this time! Once again, the world is within the palm of your hands!"

A light frown wormed its way onto her pale face. "Oh? But something appears to be...off..."

She continued to gaze at the man in her arms, who lay in an unresponsive silence, eyes closed in a peaceful state as if he were in a deep sleep.

"Hmm..." She shook her head. "I see, well, THAT'S not a problem even I can fix...but, nonetheless, I'll just have to put my faith in you."  
She smiled again. "After all, you were truly a man of many capabilities, despite the hindrance that appears to be imposed upon you I shall not lose heart...!"

He remained unconscious as she carried him off into the blackness, a determined look in her eyes as she exclaimed,

"I, Elizabeth, shall personally escort you back to your world! But from there...your fate is up to you..."

 **AN: Not much to say here other than the fact that this has been idea haunting me for awhile now so I finally decided to make it into a story. Since this is the prologue the other chapters will be much more different than this. I hope y'all enjoy.**


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